New Paladin Hero - Lightforged Cariel

AMAZING hero card! Consecration is already 4 mana, so for only 3 mana you get 5 armor and that AMAZING weapon. Control might actually have a chance!... as long as you dont die before turn 7. And the hero power is a amazing way to get bigger minions on board. Sure its random, but +4/+4 for only 2 mana is INCREDIBLE. The hero power is Blessing of Kings for halve the price! (Which you might immediately understand, considering its called "blessing of Queens".) Also the weapons damage reduction is AMAZING. OTK decks now need double the amount of resources to kil your hero! Which can often be very good... as long as it's not against Ignite mage. Ignite will still kill you just as easely. And maybe Lightforged Cariel might be a reason to run weapon removal...

Lightforged Cariel will 100% be a must-include in Libram Paladin, and any other slower/midrange paladin deck and Handbuff Paladin. I don't want to be too optimistic, but if other hero cards will be as cool as this, control might have a chance! (I love it!)

The effect is powerful, the weapon is powerful, the hero power is...powerful. This is one very powerful card all in one that essentially fits into every paladin deck until rotation.

Its basically an auto craft if you're playing paladin, because even if this card rarely ever features, you wouldn't ever want to play a game without the knowledge that this card exist in your deck. Likewise, every opponent will be playing around this card, via Rustrot Viper or otherwise, because if you get this out and your opponent cant respond by terminating your weapon, you just win the game.

The only problem with this card is rustrot viper exists, and the fact that its a 7 mana card that will not save your arse in the early game. And paladin losing its early game is essentially death. At least this card does ensure that you need not play too many late game cards, because as long as you have Mr. Smite in hand that's really all you need to finish up.

Bonus points given because mage needs to actually play minions to get rid of this weapon. There's that at least. Because even with infinite Ignites, its going to take quite a while to kill paladin with this on.

Expensive, but if you consider the Battlecry is just Consecration, then for 3 mana you get 5 armor and an amazing weapon. This seems great, but this will be over shadowed by the much faster aggro paladin this expansion.

I don't even need to see the rest of the cards to know that this will be auto-include in every Paladin.

Seems very powerful in a vacuum. Let's see what the rest of the set brings before overreacting... Oh, wait. IT'S INSANE! CONTROL IS OP. PALADIN IS DERP A DERP! 

Very excited to try this in Handbuff Paladin.  Between the hero power and Highlord Fordragon we'll be pumping out some big bois. 

What's not to like? Fingers crossed this isn't too slow and they have finally blessed the control fanbase with usable tools for once!

Incredibly powerful card. That weapon could rival any treasure you get from Duels, that's how insane it is. It HAS to be answered/removed otherwise you'll just win a lot of the time. Honestly, this hero card feels like it belongs to the Warrior class, but I'm happy to try out some control archetypes that this card will probably enable in Paladin. 

Very powerful, most likeley will see in almost every paladin deck because it is pretty good on it's own!

While she has the weapon equipped: What happens when Cariel is hit by an unstoppable force?

This is just an insane defensive tool. 7 mana is expensive, and the hero power doesn't really fit slower decks, but the weapon alone makes it so that you basically can't die. Beware of Rustrot Viper.

So basically you need weapon destruction or The Immovable Object gets out of hand...well defensively. Cariel's HP is not bad either, but the weapon is what makes the hero card insane. Also bare in mind, Suckerhook could transform your 6 mana weapon into The Immovable Object as Shaman, so nice buff to that card

So the weapon is pretty sick, but you just get hardcountered by Rustrot Viper which makes it kind of pointless as an anti-combo tool, meaning it's mostly oriented as anti agggro....for which it probably comes down a bit too late.

Generally speaking this is very slow, but if your opponent doesn't have an answer or a way to close out the game you're probably winning.

Ok, after seeing what you get with the Immovable Object and that ridiculous hero power... this seems like a powerhouse.  at 7 mana, you're paying for it.  But a Consecration, with 5 armor, a weapon that HAS to be destroyed or it's a continual 2 damage to whatever, AND only taking half damage... This isn't necessarily OP, but damn... this is a good long game card

Quote From Caro

So basically you need weapon destruction or The Immovable Object gets out of hand...well defensively. Cariel's HP is not bad either, but the weapon is what makes the hero card insane. Also bare in mind, Suckerhook could transform your 6 mana weapon into The Immovable Object as Shaman, so nice buff to that card

The Immovable Object is not itself a collectible card, so Suckerhook wouldn't be able to transform weapons into it.

That aside, I'm not really sure why the weapon has a full 5 durability if it never loses it itself and it makes no difference to full weapon removal. The protection against the full compliment of 2xBloodsail Corsair and 2xToxic Sewer Ooze seems a bit paranoid, so all it really does is give Harrison Jones a bigger payday :P

Quote From AngryShuckie

Quote From Caro

...

That aside, I'm not really sure why the weapon has a full 5 durability if it never loses it itself and it makes no difference to full weapon removal. The protection against the full compliment of 2xBloodsail Corsair and 2xToxic Sewer Ooze seems a bit paranoid, so all it really does is give Harrison Jones a bigger payday :P

Obviously, it's to synergize with Furnacefire Colossus if you're somehow able to get The Immovable Object back into your hand, and Phantom Freebooter, which see about as much play as Harrison Jones these days.

Jokes aside, onto the card itself. I'm a little worried that every deck starts running weapon hate if Lightforged Cariel is a prevalent meta card. Having to run and play weapon hate still hurdles your opponent and that doesn't get rid of Blessing of Queens, but that does get rid of arguably the biggest asset of this card. Regardless, the 4/4 buff each turn to a card in your hand is nothing to scoff at and the Consecration can be surprisingly useful as well at times. 

Arena: Ysera the Dreamer and Goliath, Sneed's Masterpiece might be slightly stronger, but aside from those this is an auto-pick. Your opponent isn't likely to have weapon hate and isn't saving it in his hand as he isn't expecting Lightforged Cariel either.

Constructed: Every slower deck would probably want to run Lightforged Cariel. I wouldn't even be surprised if this is run in an Uther of the Ebon Blade combo deck.

This looks really insane. Vulnerable to weapon removal of course.

Lightforged Cariel seems like a really solid value card with a lot of relevant support already available for the hero power (Catacomb Guard and First Blade of Wrynn come to mind). The Immovable Object offers a nice little bit of chip damage in longer games, and may save your bacon against aggro. The odd thing, though, is that most handbuff decks we've seen lately have been tempo decks that hope to end the game with Battleground Battlemaster. This is probably a nice addition, and maybe a solid tech card against aggro in that deck, but you're mostly looking to close the game out before you could hope to generate a ton of value from this.

I remember an interview a while ago where a dev (I think it was the weekly AMA guy, don't remember his name) said that their design philosophy regarding big mana cards changing from essentialy being big mana cards to big mana win conditions. Lightforged Cariel is such a card. Not only because of the soft AoE (which can be set-up with Equality or Libram of Justice the turn before to be much more impactful), but because the Hero Power makes it so it's much harder to remove their minions (and everyone should know how dangerous it is to leave a minion on board against a Paladin) combined with an anti-combo weapon that also works as a makeshift free Hunter hero power.

This is the Control wet dream and yet somehow feels balanced, because unlike other win conditions the game has introduced over these last expansions, Lightforged Cariel can actually be countered by somthing other than finishing the game before she's played. 

Really good for slow, grindy games against decks that don't have Quests. Could be nice for Big Paladin. Also, who gets the Unstoppable Force? We need to know what happens.

Quote From dapperdog

The effect is powerful, the weapon is powerful, the hero power is...powerful. This is one very powerful card all in one that essentially fits into every paladin deck until rotation (...)

Yup, I can tell a powerful powerhouse when I powerfully see a powerful one

Hero card that paladin players could dream about because it single-handedly can make a control deck happen. Or at least control-ish. However cheap weapon removal quickly makes most of the control value go away. Thankfully hero power remains there.  

Quote From Caro

So basically you need weapon destruction or The Immovable Object gets out of hand...well defensively. Cariel's HP is not bad either, but the weapon is what makes the hero card insane. Also bare in mind, Suckerhook could transform your 6 mana weapon into The Immovable Object as Shaman, so nice buff to that card

Do shaman even have a 6 mana weapon or are we talking about a situation where suckerhook evolves multiple times without you using all the charges on a weapon?  I think Cariel is an excellent card, and the weapon is great defensively though

Quote From ElSabidon

I remember an interview a while ago where a dev (I think it was the weekly AMA guy, don't remember his name) said that their design philosophy regarding big mana cards changing from essentialy being big mana cards to big mana win conditions. Lightforged Cariel is such a card. Not only because of the soft AoE (which can be set-up with Equality or Libram of Justice the turn before to be much more impactful), but because the Hero Power makes it so it's much harder to remove their minions (and everyone should know how dangerous it is to leave a minion on board against a Paladin) combined with an anti-combo weapon that also works as a makeshift free Hunter hero power.

This is the Control wet dream and yet somehow feels balanced, because unlike other win conditions the game has introduced over these last expansions, Lightforged Cariel can actually be countered by somthing other than finishing the game before she's played. 

Care to elaborate?  She is definitely a win condition in and of itself

Quote From Sykomyke

Quote From ElSabidon

I remember an interview a while ago where a dev (I think it was the weekly AMA guy, don't remember his name) said that their design philosophy regarding big mana cards changing from essentialy being big mana cards to big mana win conditions. Lightforged Cariel is such a card. Not only because of the soft AoE (which can be set-up with Equality or Libram of Justice the turn before to be much more impactful), but because the Hero Power makes it so it's much harder to remove their minions (and everyone should know how dangerous it is to leave a minion on board against a Paladin) combined with an anti-combo weapon that also works as a makeshift free Hunter hero power.

This is the Control wet dream and yet somehow feels balanced, because unlike other win conditions the game has introduced over these last expansions, Lightforged Cariel can actually be countered by somthing other than finishing the game before she's played. 

Care to elaborate?  She is definitely a win condition in and of itself

Yes. That's what I said. She is a win condition, but has counters, notably weapon destruction, which makes her more balanced than other win conditions.

I mean mostly...with the exception of quest paladins if they are a thing.

Quote From Sykomyke

Quote From Caro

So basically you need weapon destruction or The Immovable Object gets out of hand...well defensively. Cariel's HP is not bad either, but the weapon is what makes the hero card insane. Also bare in mind, Suckerhook could transform your 6 mana weapon into The Immovable Object as Shaman, so nice buff to that card

Do shaman even have a 6 mana weapon or are we talking about a situation where suckerhook evolves multiple times without you using all the charges on a weapon?  I think Cariel is an excellent card, and the weapon is great defensively though

Oh no, I was incorrect about the Suckerhook interaction, seeing as The Immovable Object is not a collectable card by itself. Thought evolve effects would evolve into anything, but past experiences say no.

Wow, an excellent card. Direct impact on board, handbuff and and a infinite weapon.

And the art is amazing!

Quote From Topandito

I mean mostly...with the exception of quest paladins if they are a thing.

How can questline even begin to compete with this? (It was never very good in the first place.) Quest's only advantage is that maybe it gets off the ground a little faster, but that's not going to help against this.

Not sure I entirely agree, but I can see your point. This doesn't offer infinite minions though, and I think weapon removal will be pretty common so the weapon won't actually live forever in most cases I bet. That said I do think you're mostly correct otherwise, if we were in a control meta where hard removal was rampant then this might be easier to manage against but in our current meta these buffs will matter and stick easier. I don't see a control meta ever happening either since if we ever get that slow something like quest warlock will just make a come back and kill it.

This is going to make Paladin a tough out if it gets to late game with any kind of meaningful health total. We already know Paladin has a decent amount of heal to use to sustain through the early game. I think they become the most viable control class with this card being included. We obviously preclude the inclusion of any other higher mana weapons. Without weapon hate, there should be no reason to use any other in the late game.

Yeah this is looking pretty meta-warping. Not quite in every Paladin deck, but it's going to feel like it.

Super sick card all around. I wouldn't be surprised if Rustrot Viper shot up in play thanks to cards like this.

This will go into each Standard Paladin deck. Heck, I think this might even be in contention for the best new Hero card.

An amazing card. It has consecration, damage reduction, and minion buffing all in one. A staple in any Paladin deck.